Gov. Stevenson Condemns Racial Bias; Calls for Tolerance

August 28, 1952

NEW YORK (Aug. 27)

Racial and religious bias was condemned here today by Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson, Democratic Presidential candidate, in his address before the national convention of the American Legion at Madison Square Garden. He emphasized that “true patriotism” is based on tolerance.

“There are men among us, ” he said, “who use ‘patriotism’ as a club for attacking other Americans. What can we say for the self-styled patriot who thinks that a Negro, a Jew, a Catholic, or a Japanese-American is less an American than he? That betrays the deepest article of our faith, the belief in individual liberty and quality which has always been the heart and soul of the American idea.”